TypoGRAPHIC Dialogue

Purpose.

This project explores how type can become a voice by translating a verbal communication into a visual communication through typography.

Assignment.

Your task is to create a typographic expression of a chosen conversation or dialogue using the typographic detail and control you have learnt to date. Create one dynamic composition. Your composition can take the form of a poster or a (connected) series of works or a book.

I started off by looking into different dialogues and there were two films that I found interesting. Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner is one of my favorite films of all time. The part of the script I was thinking of using would have been to the end of the film, a dialogue between Decker and Rachel.

D: Shakes? Me too. I get ‘em bad. [clears throat] It’s part of the business.

R: [Crying…] I’m not in the business. [Pause] I am the business.

What if I go north. Disappear. Would you come after me? Hunt me?

D: No… no, I wouldn’t. I owe you one. But somebody would.

R: Deckard? You know those files on me? The incept date, the longevity, those things. You saw them?

D: They’re classified.

R: But you’re a policeman.

D: I didn’t look at them.

R: You know that Voigt-Kampff test of yours? Did you ever take that test yourself? Deckard?

D: I dreamt music.

R: I didn’t know if I could play. I remember lessons. I don’t know if it’s me or Tyrell’s niece.

D: You play beautifully.

Or my other option is another film dialogue, between Max Fisher and Miss Cross, taken from Rushmore, exellent Wes Anderson film. My chosen dialogue kicks in at 4:02 mark.

MAXHello.MISS CROSSHi.
Miss Cross lights her cigarette on Max’s match.MISS CROSSI like your hat.MAXThank you. You’re a teacher here, aren’t you?MISS CROSSUh-huh.MAXWhat subject do you teach?MISS CROSSWell, I teach first grade, so I do all the subjects. Except music.MAXAnd this is your first year at Rushmore, I take it.
Miss Cross nods.MAXI see. How long have you been a smoker, if you don’t mind me asking?MISS CROSS(surprised)
Hm. Let’s see. How old are you?MAXFifteen.MISS CROSSSince I was your age.MAX(shocked)
You’re kidding.
Miss Cross shakes her head. Max can’t believe this.MAXYou should quit.MISS CROSSYou’re right.MAX(going back to his book)
And I should mind my own business.
Miss Cross laughs. Max looks back up.MAXWhere’d you go to school, by the way?MISS CROSSHarvard.MAXReally? That’s a coincidence. My top schools where I want to apply to are Oxford and The Sorbonne. But my safety is Harvard.MISS CROSS(smiles)
That’s very ambitious.MAXThank you.MISS CROSSWhat are you going to major in?MAXWell. I haven’t decided for sure. But probably a double major in Mathematics and Pre-Med. What was your major?MISS CROSSLatin-American studies.MAXAh, that’s interesting. Did you hear they’re not going to teach Latin here anymore?MISS CROSSThis was more like Central America.MAX(pause)
Sure. Central America and whatnot. But moving on: they’re gonna cancel Latin. They’ve got to make room for Japanese.MISS CROSSReally? That’s too bad. All the Romance Languages come from Latin.MAXThey do, don’t they?
(pause)
Like French, probably.
She nods. She smiles.MISS CROSSNihilo sanctum estne?MAXThat’s Latin, isn’t it?MISS CROSSYeah.MAXWhat does it mean?MISS CROSSIs nothing sacred?
Long pause. Looking right at her.MAXSic transit gloria. Glory fades. I’m Max Fischer.
Max slides down the bench and puts out his hand.MISS CROSSHi.
They shake hands.

I think I will stay with the latter dialogue and keep it in Baskerville, varying the point size and because of the length of the dialogue turn it into a accordion brochure type of thing.

The Baskerville was created by John Baskerville, a typefounder and printer in late eighteenth-century England. It is classified as transitional. As a matter of fact, with its generous proportions, the Baskerville appears not very different from its predecessors. But the difference between fine and bold strokes is more marked, the lower-case serifs are almost horizontal and the emphasis on the stroke widths is almost vertical.-Source

I think Baskerville will suite the certain precocious theme of the dialogue between Max and Miss Cross, who is a teacher at the private school that Max still goes to and pretty much has also dedicated his life to.